Is it “starting over” or is it “starting fresh?” Either way, it can be daunting: a blank canvas, a dream unrealized, turning the page to a new chapter, maybe throwing away all your notes and starting a whole new book. There comes a time after we experience challenges when turning a new leaf could grow a new garden. Is it worth it?
The journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step. Summer 2024 is a fresh new festival season. In this edition of Gestures we talk to Lindsay Lou and Fox Crossing Stringband about starting over. It takes guts, but more importantly it takes a lot of love: just another gesture that women bring to the arts.
The songs on Queen of Time find Lindsay Lou following a path of heartbreak, discovery, and transformation following a divorce, the pandemic lockdowns, and the death of her beloved grandmother.
“Sometimes you feel like the queen of time, and sometimes you feel like a wishing well. The truth is you’re always both and all of it at once. It can feel overwhelming, but self-knowledge is the ultimate power.”
Fox Crossing Stringband is a lady-led bluegrass band from Chicago on their second full-length album, Bluegrass on My Mind. They also released a fun EP in 2023 called Bluegrass Prom. Their sound stacks strong vocal harmony atop five bluegrass instruments, with Allison Branch on guitar, Despina Pafralides switching between fiddle and mandolin, and Cassie Wright switching between dobro and banjo.
Cassie Wright relocated from North Carolina to Chicago, “It was supposed to be my big city era and then I would return home after attending DePaul University. Once my internship with Looking Glass Theatre came through, I was hooked. I never went back home.”
Allison Branch moved to Chicago from West Texas for a job relocation. “It was such a different world. I didn’t know anyone except a really nice coworker named Jeanine. She would take me to brunch with her and her daughter and take me out to do things in Chicago. Finally, I asked a business partner about meeting some musicians. I wanted to be in a band again. He knew some musicians who were also in our field of business. One of those musicians ended up being my husband Mark.
You have to be open-minded and willing to meet people. I like to meet people off of a referral if I can. Establish a network. Branch out from there.”
“Music is the ultimate connector, especially bluegrass and traditional music. Meeting new people happens organically when there is always a jam,” said Lindsay Lou.
“This Too Shall Pass” off of Queen of Time has sound bytes of Lindsay’s Grandma that will kick ya in the gut if you love your Grandma. It sounds like a voicemail message where Grandma says, “I know that when I’m gone, you’re going to really feel bad. I know that. This too shall pass. Things change all through history and nothing can stay bad forever. You know what I mean? It has negative and positive fluctuations. Whenever things are negative, you gotta say to yourself, this too shall pass.”
Cast off from the shore, they say that’s what boats are for. Trust your vessel, lighten your load, and head for the horizon. You are bound to pick things up along the way.
Despina Pafralides ditched the pick when she journeyed on to another instrument. “I went from electric bass to electric guitar by meeting new people, learning new interests, and acquiring new musical tastes. I decided I wanted to be the person who could sing the songs and get better with my guitar so other people could join in. Thanks to that, I know a ton of jam-buster songs.
At the same time, I started playing fiddle, which is not an easy instrument to pick up and learn as an adult. It sounds so bad when you first begin. There is no way around that. I gave myself headaches. I think, once I went down that rabbit hole, the fiddle sounded great with folk & bluegrass music. So I just stayed there.”
Cassie Wright switched from banjo to dobro, “Because of my husband. I started dating Ben Wright (Henhouse Prowlers) and we quickly moved in together. I just could not hear the sound of a banjo anymore! It was too much for me. I knew if I wanted to preserve my love of the banjo, I’d need to learn a new instrument. I picked up the dobro. It was freeing to have something that was my own thing.
“That’s what I love about being in Fox Crossing Stringband. We all get to lead at moments and then we all support each other. It’s all about being in service to the song. That is the hope, anyway. Whoever is singing is owning that song. The rest of us do all we can to let that person really shine.”
In West Texas, Allison Branch was “Immersed in music school where I had the opportunity to play a lot of different instruments. If the gig needed a bass guitar, I’d play that. Music has always been such a big part of my life. I was surrounded by great musicians who were all trying new things. I don’t necessarily feel special because I’m able to switch instruments. I’m happy to play whatever, learn from whoever, sing whatever, just to play with my friends.”
“Bluegrass is an excellent place to look for accessible ways to be a better musician,” said Lindsay Lou. “By learning songs I wanted to sing, focusing on my rhythm guitar playing, learning bluegrass informed techniques – which I still feel like has room for improvement. I think music is like that, there is always more to improve, always room to grow.”
Music is not a museum piece nor are the people who create it.
Lindsay Lou
Back in Austin Texas, Allison Branch was in an all-girls punk rock band. “The thing about bluegrass, the rhythm is a little bit different. That was a challenge for me, so I took a couple of lessons. South Plains College is a bluegrass college but I wasn’t necessarily playing bluegrass. I was playing country, I was playing classic rock.”
Cassie Wright says “Wanting a community is what steered me to bluegrass. I heard those songs and it totally shook me. I saw Ralph Stanely at the CSO, started seeing more shows at the Old Town School of Folk Music, and I knew I needed to be a part of this.”
Lindsay Lou cited her time at Michigan State University as the time she got hip to bluegrass. “There wasn’t really a single favorite but Bill Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys live at The Mechanics, The Stanley Brothers Bluegrass Album Band volumes, and Tim O’Brien at Fiddlers Green. Once I got hip to Gillian Welch, I met the Flatbellys at an open mic and never looked back. The harmony singing and emphasis on acoustic jamming caused my pause at bluegrass. The first night I landed in Nashville, my friend Maya deVitry threw a pickin party at her house. That began a long series of staying up all night playing music. I expected to be surrounded by friends and heroes. That is exactly what it’s like.”
After Lindsay borrowed a friend’s banjo back in Lansing MI, she bought herself an instructional video. David Holt’s DVD gave her the steps to start clawhammer. “Eventually, I started writing my own songs on it. One of those songs made it onto Release Your Shrouds. I got myself a banjo after that.
“While we were recording Ionia, I picked up my bandmate’s bass and felt the natural inclination for it. Mark Schatz’s instructional DVD plus a few lessons over the years led me to play bass full-time last summer with my band. It was a satisfying challenge. I think the biggest challenge when starting over with a new instrument is using different muscles and parts of your fingers to play. The pressure of holding it down has a big impact on the music. It is very subtle but key decisions can feel intimidating.”
For Despina Pafralides, it was a matter of not only changing instruments but also changing people. “Switching instruments happened when I switched bands, which was a good thing. People have so much going on in their lives. Meeting the right people and keeping your band together was more challenging than switching instruments.”
From a punk rock band with some power chords, Despina hit the ground running (and screaming!) Starting over, she moved into a jam band, Sweetwater Meltdown. That melted down so from there she went into Whistlin Dixies, a country band, and finally found footing with Fox Crossing String Band.
“It’s important to hold your own (as a musician) It’s important to be able to play solo and perform solo. When you add more people in, that is the ultimate bonus.”
“Maybe when I was younger, I thought being a successful musician meant being famous,” said Allison Branch. “But what I’ve learned is that is not really it at all. Sometimes I nail it, sometimes I don’t. When I do, I am so happy about it. I usually look at Despina and she’s grinning at me like ‘Yeah!’ It’s all about what you can do for other people. I love to see people smile. I’m almost tearing up a little bit. It takes time but it’s time that we enjoy. The smiles, the hugs, sharing stories. We’ve gotten so many special little artsy trinkets that people have made for us. They touch our hearts. That’s what keeps us going.”
Do you ever encounter resistance?
Eclectic Lindsay Lou has “always written songs that span a wide range of styles. Yes. I’ve gotten resistance from fans at times. It’s natural. I’ve felt resistance towards punk bands or different artists that I love throughout the years. As an artist, though, your main objective is to be true to yourself. It’s not worth being bothered by someone that doesn’t dig it.”
Music is a living, breathing entity that takes in all the input of its time and gives forth a unique amalgamation of human experience. The purpose of it all is to get you closer to your own voice. Your voice is characterized by what you have in common with other artists just as much as what sets you apart from other artists.”
As Cassie Wright was learning banjo, “I got feedback that I needed to be more aggressive with my playing. I needed to be a more aggressive player. At times, that was something I really struggled with. That’s just not how I express myself. I think that some of the language is coded for the dominant power structure we are all working under. I just want to play the banjo. You just have to unpack some of that resistance and help people reflect back. I approach my instrument and my playing as a workhorse. I am always learning and mastering new techniques, continually experimenting, and getting feedback from our audiences. Then we use that to build our sound.”
Did starting over affect your confidence?
Of course, your confidence will quiver in the cold wind of the morning. It is always darkest before dawn. You can’t go over it, under it, or around it. To begin anew, you have got to go through it.
Once you’re there? “I feel more confident being able to play more instruments,” says Lindsay Lou. “I love all instruments, the way they sound, the way they add to the whole. One of my happiest moments was playing late night at Bliss Fest on bass. The late nights are a party, and to be able to provide the feeling on bass versus being support for my singer-songwriter thing is very different. I felt nervous and unsure of myself but I practiced enough and the set went great! I remember thinking, ‘Wow! I can really do this!”
You can, too. Start fresh, begin again, embrace the new day, and start over.
